


The Cheerleader and the Football Player

by aceofhearts88



Series: High School AU [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cheerleader Clint, Cheerleader Natasha, Cheerleader Steve, F/M, Fainting, Fluff, Football Player Sam, M/M, Quarterback T'Challa, cuteness, kinda cracky a little
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 07:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7213672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofhearts88/pseuds/aceofhearts88
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers has a crush on Sam Wilson, but doesn't believe the guy even knows he exists.<br/>Sam Wilson has a crush on Steve Rogers, but keeps on waiting for the right moment.</p><p>Thank god their friends are evil and mischievious and want to see them happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cheerleader and the Football Player

Every adult who said high school had been the best time of their lives was clearly brain dead or just had the worst life ever, because high school sucked. Being sixteen sucked. Big time. School was an endless repeat of boring over boring over boring. One embarassment after the next, no relief, no optimism. High School, puberty and growing up was the worst ever.

And love was the worst of it all. Falling in love, being in love, everything sucked.

"Well, you're in a splendid mood."

Steve looked up from his sketchbook to where Natasha was stretching in the sun, even though practice wasn't for another two hours. Two hours they blessedly had free to do whatever they wanted as long as they were punctual, Natasha was strict with them. Running them through routines like a drill sergeant, but they were the most successful cheerleader group their school had had so far, and Steve was proud of their achievements.

"It's nothing." He grumbled and then even Clint looked up from his books, glancing from him to his girlfriend and back again, Steve saw it all.  
"Oh yeah?" Natasha wanted to know, gracefully sitting back down again, right in front of him, "It's nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the initials you keep on scrippling into your book again." She taunted and Steve wrenched his sketchbook into safety, ignoring the giggles from Clint and the all knowing stares from the redhead.

That was private.

Strictly private.

"Come on, Steve." Clint spoke up, "It's not like we don't know about your big crush on Wilson, and honestly, who wouldn't. The guy is cute." The smaller blond agreed and Steve blushed but followed his look over to the football field where the players of their school team were still hanging out, some of them warming up or stretching already.

Among them Sam Wilson.

The star of Steve's daydreams and real dreams at night since freshman year, so handsome and beautiful.

"Yeah you'll have to be utterly blind not to notice that kind of crush." Natasha chuckled and shoved gently at his knee, "You're head over heels for him. You should go and talk to him one of these days, you know." She proposed and Steve hastily shook his head, busying himself by packing away his sketchbook again.  
"Oh no, I couldn't. There is no way I will ever speak to him." He protested and kicked at both his friends when Clint and Natasha exchanged one of those plotting looks again.

"Come on." Clint was the one to verbalize the gesture, rolling himself around to watch Steve more carefully, "Your best friend is dating the team captain, it can't be that difficult to get invited along." And all of them looked over to where the missing part of their little group was laughing in the arm's of the team's quarterback and captain. T'Challa's arms protectively around his boyfriend's waist from behind, chin hooked upon his shoulder, grinning just as bright as Bucky Barnes as they talked to Sam Wilson and some other players.

"How did that happen anyway? I leave town for one weekend and suddenly Barnes has been grabbed away by the school's hottest guy." Natasha asked out loud and bend her body over backwards, dodging the swipe Clint made at her legs, seemingly not really happy with his girlfriend's words, "Oh come on, you know I'm right. You told me yourself that T'Challa's ass was..."

"Okay, can we maybe get back to me and my neurosis? I'd like to not talk about T'Challa's ass as long as the guy who is basically my brother is dating him." Steve complained and Natasha rolled her eyes at him, "And for the record, Bucky offered to help, I told him I don't need his help. As if Sam Wilson will ever look twice at me."  
"Have you looked in the mirror lately, dude?" Clint called out, "I mean, you're no Bucky, but..."

"Clint!" Natasha hissed and kicked at his foot, "You're a great guy, Steve. You're hot, and you're real bendy. Wilson will totally look at you if you let him. And you know what? We'll totally do that right this afternoon." Natasha proclaimed and then jumped flawlessly to her feet while Steve spluttered at her, "Clint, darling, make him stay put." And Clint, good puppy that he was, threw himself at Steve and over his legs as Natasha danced away and over to the football team.

\--

"Hey, fellas."

Sam Wilson looked to his right as Natasha Romanov strolled up to where he had been talking to T'Challa and Bucky among his other teammates. Several of the other guys whistled under their breath as the redhead approached, but T'Challa glared at them for their behavior and they quickly turned away as Natasha came to stand next to him.

"Nat." Bucky greeted his friend, raising an eyebrow at her, holding a silent conversation that ended in Romanov smirking and him rolling his eyes. Sam twitched in surprise when she hooked her arm around his in the next moment, smiling up at him.  
"You know Steve Rogers, right?" She wanted to know and Sam threw a quick look over to T'Challa and Bucky, both of whom hid their traitorous grins by turning towards each other for a kiss.

"Sure, who doesn't? Great artist, seen his paintings all over the school, and he's hard to overlook during cheerleader performances at our games." He answered honestly, his eyes moving over to where Rogers seemed to be scowling at Barton who had his legs pinned to the ground.  
"Do you like him?" Romanov surprised him with her next question and he spluttered for a moment, desperately searching for words.

Had it been that obvious?

He thought he had been smooth.

"Yeah, I might. Why, what do you care?" He asked, remembering vividly how Barton and Romanov had gone all protective super baby assassins on T'Challa after he had started dating Bucky. Not believing for weeks that what they had was real and not some false ploy to get attention. Quarterback dating the nerdy science geek kid who had lost his arm in a train accident last summer, the entire school had been talking behind their backs for weeks.

It had been so ridiculous, because if you had just taken one damn look at them together, you would have easily seen just how freaking in love they were with each other.

"If you want to hit that, you might want to make some moves, because Steve doesn't believe you even know he exists." Natasha put it down all blunt and brutally honest and Sam gaped at her and then over to Rogers, now deep in discussion with Barton who still refused to go off his legs.  
"Wow, you really don't pull your punches, do you?" He deadpanned at the head cheerleader who flashed a grin at him that was all teeth and no charm, clearly waiting for an answer, "You're saying he likes me, too?"

"Crush of the ages!" T'Challa and Bucky chorused together and then went right back to sucking each other's faces off. Sam glared at them and refused to say another word to the topic, preferring to inconspiciously watch Rogers out of the corner of his eye again. It wasn't like the thought hadn't been crossing his mind for weeks already, he had just kept on waiting for the right moment to come up.

"Hey, T'Challa, you mind us practicing next to the field today?" Romanov came out with the next surprise and T'Challa turned to look at her, pulling Bucky against his chest.  
"No, sure, go ahead." He said and then smirked at Sam, all devious and plotting and like the secrets knowing best friend he was, "Some of us will be glad to have something to watch."

\--

"I hate you." Steve hissed two hours later as they warmed themselves up for cheerleader practice right besides the football field where Coach Rhodes was in the middle of training, yelling out instructions. Natasha flipped her ponytail over her shoulder and used Bucky as a lean on post while she stretched up her leg, Bucky kept his arms crossed over his chest and his face pulled into a smirk as he stared at Steve. 

Behind them Clint was already doing flips with the new recruits of this year's freshman year, most of the other boys and girls were stretching as well, no one did it halfhearted anymore since Natasha had become head-cheerleader.  
"Give it fifteen minutes, and you'll love her." Bucky commented and Steve glared at him as well, "Granted, not as much as you'll love Sam, but you get the drift."

"What are you even doing here? Done ogling T'Challa for the day?" Steve grumbled and pulled off his sweatshirt, only to wince when Bucky whistled, maybe picking his old shirt from last year's championship's tournament hadn't been the best idea, it was really tight by now.  
"I can multitask." Bucky deadpanned, "And right now, it's way more amusing to see your love life unfold right before my eyes. I've seen you scribbling Sam's name behind yours for long enough now." He chuckled and Steve roared.

He tackled Bucky to the ground and Natasha jumped gracefully out of their way as some other girls shrieked, but Bucky ended the whole dramatics when he pinned Steve under him within a few seconds, "You know, first, you're a dick, and second, even with only one arm, I'll still beat you blind." He huffed and Steve growled at him, but then he must have gotten aware of just where they were and whined, thumping his head back against the ground.

"Get off me!" He called out in humiliation and rolled to his feet when Bucky shifted, holding out a hand to pull his best friend to his feet as well again.  
"Alright." Natasha clapped her hands twice, "Let's get started then." She snapped everyone to full attention and Bucky moved out of the way when they moved into formation.

\--

Sam was honest to god giving his best to not get distracted during training, coach had them on a strict schedule at this time of the year and anyone not ready to give it their all had a direct path to the bench in front of them.

But fucking hell, who had let Rogers keep those damn tight shirts. And then decided to let him do those bend over positions while wearing them. How was a guy supposed to keep his attention on the game like that.

Romanov's sharp voice floated over again and Sam looked up just in time to see Rogers doing a series of incredible backflips. In the next moment he crashed right into T'Challa, whose quick reflexes kept them from tumbling to the ground.  
"Man, you gotta get your head back on your neck, Sam." His best friend complained and rubbed his arm before following his look, "Though he really can stretch those legs up high." He chuckled and Sam shoved at him.

"Mind your own damn business." Sam grouched and T'Challa used the break their coach called when two of their teammates got into an argument to throw an arm around his shoulders.  
"You're my best friend, buddy, that makes you my business. He's a great kid, real sweet and nice. You've heard Buck talk about him, and I know you like him, so take your chance and roll with is. I'm taking Bucky to that milkshake parlor later, wouldn't mind Rogers and you joining us."

"I can come up with my own date ideas, thank you very much."

Though milkshakes sounded kinda awesome.

\--

Training went fine and as usual despite the spontanous location switch and the slight unfamiliarity of the not perfectly evened out ground under their feet. Natasha drilled and yelled them into repeats after repeats until even the smallest gesture was flawlessly in sync and rounded up with the rest of their performance. 

Everything was great until Steve had a rare chance to let his attention wander for a moment and caught sight of brown eyes watching them from across the football field, and more specific, watching him across the field. Leaning against one of the spotlights, Sam Wilson was turning a bottle of water around in his hands as he stared unwavering over to him while he held Maria up into the air for the current formation.

Worse was only that Bucky was standing right next to him, and Steve hadn't even noticed him wander off, talking quietly with him, eyes glancing over to Steve again and again, and Sam nodded. Smiled actually, smiled all amazing and beautiful and...

Natasha whistled, Maria flipped off and hit Steve right in the face. He went down like a bag of sand, taking down Clint and Wanda and hitting his head on the former's knee as pain exploded all across his face. For a long moment all he could do was lie there, hands pressed over his face as his head sang itself through at least five stages of pain, leaving him dazed and frozen in place.

"Stevie? Can you hear me? Christ, back off a little guys, give him some space!" Bucky's voice was the first to push itself through the ringing in his ears and he groaned, "I'm taking that as a yes, now come on, up you go." Someone pulled him up, but it couldn't be Bucky alone, there were more than one hand on him, arms under his shoulders and basically picking him up. Steve swayed a second when his head got dizzy but strong hands kept him standing straight, and when he blinked, dropping his hands down finally, he came face to face with gentle brown eyes and the concerned face of Sam Wilson. 

He would later pin the fact that he fainted right then and there down to not having drunk enough water during the day and it not having anything to do with a crush that had been growing into epic proportions over the last months.

\--

He came back to himself and his senses in the nurse's room, propped up on the gurney there, with Bucky and T'Challa sitting at his side, both of them rolling their eyes at him the second he blinked.  
"Hey, there, you done with the dramatics for the day?" Bucky asked quietly, letting his face turn softer again when Steve slowly sat up, gratefully taking the bottle of water T'Challa held out to him without saying a word.

"I'm fine, thank you for asking." He replied to the question only Bucky's eyes had directed at him, his best friend since childhood smiled and then got to his feet.  
"Great, we'll leave you two to talk then." He announced and waited until T'Challa was on his feet as well before grabbing his hand and walking out of the room. Steve stared after them until the door fell shut and then snapped his head around to the other side of him.

Sam Wilson smiled at him from where he was leaning against the wall. 

"Hi. You sure you're okay? Still a little pale."

And oh god. Sam Wilson was talking to him. Sam Wilson was actually freaking talking to him.

"Yeah." He stuttered out and then took a long sip of water to keep his hands from fretting with his hair, unable to take his eyes off of Sam Wilson smiling at him. How he pushed himself off the wall and walked around the gurney until he could sit down in the chair that Bucky had vacated only seconds earlier. The chair right next to where Steve had pushed his legs off the side to sit up more comfortably. 

"That's good to know. You scared me quite a bit when you just dropped out on the field. Does your head still hurt? Nurse says your nose isn't broken, must have gotten lucky, doesn't even look bruised. Still your pretty face." Sam smirked in the end and Steve felt his whole body flush, eyes ducking down to stare at his feet and fingers picking at the water bottle.

Sam Wilson had called him pretty.

"Thank you." He whispered and then froze when gentle fingers curled around his chin and pulled his face up again, made him look up to catch those mesmerizing deep brown eyes again, tempted him to get lost in them again.  
"Nah, nothing to thank me for, handsome." Sam chuckled and didn't let go of his face, quite on the contrary, his thumb started to stroke softly over Steve's jawline while his other hand came to rest on Steve's knee, squeezing gently.

Maybe he had died and this was heaven.

He realized he had whispered those words into the open when Sam threw his head back and laughed before pulling his hands away and swinging himself up to sit on the gurney right next to Steve.  
"You got a very horrible vision of heaven, beautiful, if it's still set in bloody high school." He smiled and knocked his arm lightly against Steve's, curling the hand around his in the next moment. Steve was really sure his heart could burst from his chest in the next moment, "Might feel obliged to improve that idea. How about we go out of here and get some milkshakes? Chall and Buck know this awesome place and I really can use some back-up against their old-married-couple bickering. You free?"

Holy fucking shit. Sam Wilson was asking him out.

"Yes, I'm totally free. I'd love to go." Steve rambled nervously and then bit his lips to shut himself up, Sam laughed again, smiling like the sun itself and then leaned in and kissed his cheek.

\--


End file.
